Friday, November 23, 2012

Understanding Prenatal Development

At the moment of conception every aspect
of the genetic inheritance for a new individual will be determined once and for
all: to be a boy or girl, with brown or blue eyes, light or dark, tall or
short; all the rich physical details from head to toes. A new and unique human
being comes into existence with its own distinct genetic code.

In order to better understand why it
is such a lie to argue that abortion is the mere removal of cell tissue,
consider this timeline of prenatal development:

By week 3 of pregnancy, at just 21
days after conception, the heart starts beating! Over the next 4 days, the
heart will settle into its regular rhythm and will start pumping blood
throughout newly formed blood vessels. It will have beat roughly 54 million
times before the baby is even born. Brain and spine are present and organs are preparing
to function, eyes become visible on scans. Week 4: arms and legs are shaped. Day
31, hand formation begins. Day 33, the feet begin taking shape.

By week 6 and 2 days from conception,
early brain waves are measurable. Bone hardening has begun, lips have appeared,
and all 20 baby teeth are in the gums. The baby begins to make spontaneous and
reflexive movements. He responds to stimulus and is able to feel pain. A touch
to the mouth area causes the baby to move his head. Lars Hamberger, Professor
and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Sweden's
Gothenburg University notes that,
"even this early in pregnancy, the baby is extremely lively, in constant
motion, sleeping for only brief periods."

At 7 weeks, hiccups have been
observed. Fingers and toes are distinctly separated. Knee joints are present,
and the baby develops the ability to smell. Day 49 has been elected to be the
final day of the scientifically recorded day-to-day diary of development. On
this day, the baby is 7 weeks old and is considered to be essentially complete.
90% of the structures found in an adult human being can be found in this tiny
body. From here on, the baby waits for birth, growing in size and weight. 75%
of 8-week old babies demonstrate right-handedness.

model of unborn baby at 12 weeks

By
week 9 he can yawn, suck his thumb, and scratch his chin. Week 10: Fingernails,
toenails and unique fingerprints all appear at this time. Between 16-20 weeks,
his body is large enough for the mother to start feeling his kicks. The
earliest baby born in South Africa to survive and become a healthy normal child
was 20 weeks (5 months)! In Swaziland a baby girl was born at 24 weeks (6
months) and is healthy today. At the end of 9 months the baby initiates labour
by stimulating the adrenal cortex to secrete a hormone that induces the
mother's uterus to begin contracting. It is the baby who determines when it's
time for birth!

There has long been a common misperception that
most abortions occur before the baby is recognizably human. Day after day,
thousands of aborting women wrongly believe that they're simply eliminating
some cell tissue or “blob”. Because general ignorance of prenatal development
is so convenient to the abortion industry, it's not hard to guess why Planned
Parenthood does so little to accurately educate women. Isn't it the height of
injustice to abuse another member of the human community simply because they
don't look the way we expect them to? Abortion is not the mere removal of cell
tissue; it is the death of living, growing human beings.

all about...

Ruth was born in the 80s in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland, to 2 awesome missionary parents from the Netherlands. Ruth has 4 sisters, 4 nieces, and 2 precious sons. Oh, and 1 husband and 1 crazy cat Duchess! Ruth can be described as gorgeous now, and eccentric when she gets older.